South African Population Research Infrastructure Network

 South African Population Research Infrastructure Network (SAPRIN) is a long-term investment into a national research infrastructure funded by the national Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and hosted by the South African Medical Research Council. It brings together and harmonises all three of South Africa’s existing health and demographic surveillance sites (HDSS) and two newly identified urban nodes in Gauteng and the Western Cape. The long-standing rural nodes are the MRC/Wits University Agincourt HDSS in Bushbuckridge District, Mpumalanga, established in 1993, with a population of 113 113 people; the University of Limpopo DIMAMO HDSS in the Capricorn District of Limpopo, established in 1996, with a current population of 100 000; and the Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI) HDSS in uMkhanyakude District, KwaZulu-Natal, established in 2000, with a current population of 139 250.